The Mt. Baldy Expedition

The Mt Baldy Expedition (2005 - 2010)

"We have become so caught up in reading stories such as this that we deem it reasonable and necessary, both for our own sake and as a service to our society, to become explorers and engage in everything we have read explorers engage in. For that reason, we are setting out on a voyage of discovery we have titled The Mt. Baldy Expedition."

- The Mt. Baldy Expedition Announcement Lecture, Dogmatic Gallery, March 6, 2004

In 2004, inspired by predecessors such as Ferdinand Magellan and Enrique de Malacca, James Barry and I began a collaborative, mixed media project titled The Mt. Baldy Expedition (see quote). The project's structure was that of a journey of exploration in which we set out to build a sailing dinghy, sail it across Lake Michigan to Mt. Baldy, a sand dune in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, and return to share our findings with the world.

Throughout the six-year project, we continually communicated our activities by creating and exhibiting a series of "mini-projects" designed to act as an invitation to others to participate in the wonder, romance and adventure of commonplace exploration. These projects took, at times, both a serious and whimsical form and included photographic series of the Chicago lakefront, bird watching and plant identification; lectures on the history of exploration and its ties to contemporary globalization, the history of contemporary and historic boat building materials, and workshops on knot tying and the history of rope; text pieces such as an interview with our parents exploring the topics of play, learning and risk and a letter writing campaign to world leaders; illustrations such as a paper boat pattern of our expeditionary sailing dinghy and a booklet of nautical knots. We began publishing a blog, The Push Forward Chronicles, soon into the project to keep our audience and donors informed of our progress. We used it to post updates, photographs from shipbuilding at the MTBE Boatworks, projects, and lists of donors and sponsors.

THE MT. BALDY EXPEDITION - The beginning

On March 6, 2004, we formally announced our voyage of discovery, The Mt. Baldy Expedition, at Dogmatic Gallery in Chicago, IL. The following document is a transcript of the slide lecture we delivered on that evening with an introduction by Michael Thomas, the owner and operator of Dogmatic Gallery.

The Mt. Baldy Expedition moved from concept to project when Jim bought the boat plans for a San Francisco Pelican from the boat designer’s widow, Muriel Short. The plans arrived in a manila envelope and consisted of three large sheets of diagrams accompanied by a booklet of directions. We named the boat the Boutez en Avant (meaning Push Forward in french) and the Mt. Baldy Expedition began. Here is how we described the boat in our announcement lecture in 2004:

“The expeditionary vessel, the Boutez en Avant, is a San Francisco Pelican. It was designed in 1959 by Captain William Short, a steam tugboat commander and 35 year veteran of the merchant service. Captain Short began his life at sea during World War II in the India Burma Campaign where he frequently sailed Sampans, dhows, and other native craft. After returning from the war, he used these experiences as inspiration to create a heavy weather sailing dinghy for his children to learn to sail in the choppy waters and gusty winds of the San Francisco Bay. The Pelican is an extremely stable and safe dinghy. It is completely decked over, has protective cockpit combings and more than generous freeboard. Constructed of plywood, it has a length overall of 12' 2 1/2", a beam of 6' 1 3/4", a draft with the centerboard up of 4", a draft with the centerboard down of 4', and flies a total of 105 sq. feet of sail. We purchased the plans for the Boutez en Avant from Capt. Short’s widow, Muriel Short, who still lives in the bay area and operates the San Francisco Pelican Boats Company.”

THE MT. BALDY EXPEDITION - Building

Our second issue of The Push Forward Chronicles, opened:

“The Mt. Baldy Expedition is happy to announce the establishment of its National Headquarters on the Southside of Chicago in Little Tuscany. On April 1, 2006, just a few blocks from Headquarters, the expedition rented another location for the MTBE Boat Works where the expeditionary sailing dinghy, the Boutez en Avant, is being built. Both locations are within walking distance of the site Marquette and Joliet wintered prior to their portage of the subcontinental divide in 1673.”
Building continued for the next four years. Along the way, we published four issues of The Push Forward Chronicles, wrote a letter to the pope, and completed 10 “mini-projects” that we exhibited, published, and performed. Preparation for building took two years, and the building process itself took four years. We celebrated the boat launch in August, 2010.

Conclusion

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